1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a drive and support structure for a blower used in a self-cleaning convection oven.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Tremendous advancements have been made in the art of cooking appliances in the relatively recent past. For instance, it was not many years ago that conduction and/or radiant heat sources were almost exclusively relied upon in connection with household ranges and wall ovens. However, more recent trends are to further take advantage of convection as an additional heating system. That is, a flow of air can be circulated through an oven cavity, while being subjected to one or more heat sources, with the heated air being distributed into the oven cavity to develop substantially uniform cooking of a food product.
As with more conventional oven cooking arrangements, it is desirable to provide a self-cleaning function for the oven cavity regardless of the particular type of heating source(s) used with the convection oven. However, with such an arrangement, the air handling system can be subjected to extreme temperatures. Various components of the air handling system, such as a bearing arrangement utilized to rotatably support a blower element of the system, can be adversely affected when subjected to such high temperatures.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a blower assembly used in a cooking appliance, including an oven cavity adapted to operate in at least cleaning and convection cooking modes, wherein sensitive components of the blower assembly are isolated from extreme temperatures during operation of the cooking appliance. In addition, there is a need for a blower assembly for a convection cooking appliance which is easy to assemble, reliable and cost effective, while being designed to establish a temperature gradient between its various components which assures that more temperature sensitive components are protected.